After coming home from an adventurous family camping trip in North Carolina, my eyes are starved for fall beauty. It is quite a visual let down to go from breathtaking views of mountains full of red, yellow, and orange trees to my current state of green, or dying foliage surrounding me in Florida! (Why do I live here? ... oh... I like the sun and warmth... keep repeating :-) )
So if I can't see fall right now, I guess the next best option is to taste fall! So time to bring on the delicious pumpkin!
While passengering (as I did not do my share of driving) in the car for hours on our trip, I had the chance to be inspired by many tasty looking pumpkin treats on Pinterest. So, here is my successful attempt to satisfy my fall craving with Pumpkin Muffins!
Now that Logan has experienced much healing in his gut over the years due to clean, allergy-free eating in combination with other healthy measures like HBOT, probiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and supplements to combat inflammation, I am now able to bake with eggs and rice flour rather than having to substitute these ingredients. Because of this, I decided to try out Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Baking Flour for these bundles of pumpkin goodness, and I am glad I did! Not only did it simplify the recipe, but they tasted fantastic - light, fluffy, but rich. I think they would turn out great using another flour combination (for example, sorghum + garbonzo/fava flour + tapioca starch + potato starch), and I will explore that later.
Ready? If you are like me, a busy mom with only a short break of time to really only do one of the following: shower, bake, cook, shop, or do laundry before you have to just wait til tomorrow ... you better move quick!!! Preheat your oven to 375', grab two large mixing bowls, a mixer, a large spoon, a spatula, measuring cups, measuring spoons, muffin liners (I like to use If You Care Baking Cups) and all your ingredients.
What You Need:
- 1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Baking Flour
- 1/4 cup hazelnut flour (could probably use almond instead if needed)
- 1/8 cup organic flax meal
- 1 cup organic cane sugar
- 1/4 cup organic dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup organic blonde coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 eggs (chicken or duck) **
- 1 fifteen ounce can pure organic pumpkin
- 1/2 cup coconut oil (could use organic canola oil if needed)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
What To Do:
Measure out all the dry ingredients and place them in a large mixing bowl. (I was a lazy measurer and most of mine were more like "heaping" measurements ... FYI) Use a large wooden spoon to stir all the dry ingredients together until it resembles one flour.
In the second bowl use the mixer to blend together the eggs, pumpkin, coconut oil, and vanilla. **I chose to use eggs because I had that freedom, but I am sure this recipe would also be delicious egg free. I have not made this one egg free yet, but if I did, I would use 3 tablespoons of applesauce mixed with 1 teaspoon of baking powder with the addition of 1 1/2 teaspoons of egg replacer combined with 2 tablespoons of water. (see why eggs are just easier?????) Another egg free option would be just to use 1 tablespoon of egg replacer mixed with 1/4 cup of water.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Use a spatula to scrape the bowl to ensure nothing needed is left behind! Use the mixer to blend the ingredients until smooth and beautifully orange.
Stuff the muffin baking pan with the baking liners and fill them to the top with the pumpkin muffin batter. Sprinkle the top with raw sugar (little bit bigger crystals than regular sugar) and bake for 22 - 24 minutes. You will know they are done when your house smells amazing and cozy, or you can just stick a toothpick in and see if it comes out clean.
It may not look like fall in Florida, but at least now with this Pumpkin Muffin, a couple of my senses are satisfied with a taste of this fall season.
Hope you enjoy!
Post Baking Thoughts - After eating one of these muffins, although seriously perfect as is, I think they could be even more complete with some finely chopped walnuts, pecans, and/or dried cranberries. My entire family is allergic to walnuts, so if you try it and it is good, let me know! Happy eating!